WASHINGTON -The federal government shut down for the first time in
nearly two decades following more than a week of legislative jockeying
by House Republicans to extract concessions from President Obama and
Senate Democrats on the Affordable Care Act.

Shortly before
midnight, Obama notified government agencies to prepare to cease
operations Tuesday, even as House Republicans worked on a fourth and
final attempt to again advance a plan to delay the individual mandate to
buy health insurance exchanges that open for enrollment Tuesday.

The
House Republicans' moves came as a series of polls released Monday
showed that they were bearing the bulk of the blame for the shutdown.
One of their Senate colleagues, Sen. John McCain of Arizona, the party's
2008 presidential nominee, called their position doomed to eventual
failure.

Republicans were also seeking a motion to start formal
negotiations, called a conference committee, with the Senate on the
stopgap spending measure - an unusual request for a six-week spending
bill that funds the government at current levels, but it provides
Republicans a vehicle to keep the debate going. It was quickly rejected
by Senate Democrats.